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Released by: Severin Films
Released on: September 27th, 2022.
Director: Ray Dennis Steckler
Cast: Ray Dennis Steckler, Liz Renay, Joseph Bardo, Ron Haydock, Carolyn Brandt, Titus Moede, Mike Cannon
Year: 1965, 1965, 1967/1969
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The Incredibly Strange Films Of Ray Dennis Steckler Part Two – Movie Review:
Our coverage of Severin Films's The Incredibly Strange Films Of Ray Dennis Steckler Blu-ray boxed set continues. This installment of our coverage of the set will cover discs two and three in the collection, which proves to be a weird mix of horror and noirish suspense, superheroics and kids movie nonsense!
Disc Three – The Thrill Killers:
Ray Dennis Steckler’s third feature was 1965’s The Thriller Killers, a film that is set in and around Los Angeles, California and that introduces us to Mort 'Mad Dog' Click, played by Steckler himself, once again under his ‘Cash Flagg’ alias. Mort is a killer, and early in the film he poses as a hitchhiker and when a kindly Greek immigrant (Atlas King), a husband and father to two kids, pulls over to offer him a ride, Mort shoots him dead and steals his car.
Elsewhere, a struggling actor named Joe Saxon (Joseph Bardo, credited as Brick Bardo) and his wife Liz (Liz Renay) are hosting a wild shindig that they both know they can’t afford. Regardless, Joe mingles, hoping that film producer George Morgan (one of the film's actual producers, playing himself) might give him a break. The next morning, Liz is upset with her husband and drives off to a remote diner operated by her sister, Carol (Carolyn Brandt), for some breakfast and a chat. Neither of them are aware that three men - Gary Barcroft (Gary Kent), Keith Rogers (Keith O'Brien) and Mad Dog's cousin, Herbie Click (Herb Robbins) – have escaped from a nearby mental asylum. After killing off a newly married couple inspecting a house they’re planning on buying, the three armed and dangerous lunatics arrive at Carol’s diner, followed shortly by Joe, hoping to woo his wife back into his arms.
From here, things hit the fan as Mad Dog’s story kinda/sorta weaves into the other subplot resulting in a pretty wacky, but kinda/sorta exciting chase scene through the California hills involving a motorcycle and a horse!
Steckler’s first attempt at a proper horror picture is an interesting one. The plot goes in a few different directions and there are stretches of the movie where you’ll probably forgot that Mad Dog is a central character but even when the esteemed Mr. Flagg isn’t running around with a Lugar blasting away at poor Greek guys or scaring kids, there’s plenty of entertainment value to be had. Whenever the three lunatics are on screen the movie is a blast, each one of the actors bringing a different, quirky personality to the movie with Kent in particularly managing to come across as legitimately menacing in a couple of scenes. Look for Arch Hall Sr. as the movie mogul hanging out with Morgan at the party scene. Titus Moede has a small role in the film and also served as one of the producers. Steckler’s wife, Carolyn Brandt, looks great here and plays the saucy, sexy diner owner pretty well. Liz Renay is phoning it in for much of the film but definitely gives her all in the last fifteen minutes or so when her character finds herself in some legitimate peril. If Joseph Bardo doesn’t make for the best on screen hero you’ll ever see (he’s kind of bland), he gets points for trying.
Considerably more violent than anything he’d made up to this point, Steckler’s direction is better than average and the production values aren’t bad at all. Granted, a severed head effect isn’t particular convincing, but that’s missing the forest through the trees… because we have a severed head effect and that’s awesome. The score is pretty good and the location work is actually pretty strong, especially the old abandoned looking house where our newlyweds meet their unfortunate demise. The black and white cinematography is pretty solid here too.
Note that this movie was reissued later on in an alternate version as The Maniacs Are Loose!, which runs an hour and sixteen minutes versus the original cut at an hour and ten minutes. The differences are pretty simple – in The Maniacs Are Loose! version, we get a lengthy color prologue where a doctor appears on screen and, after talking about how maniacs are, in fact, lose, he attempts to lure the audience into a state of hypnosis by asking us to do some breathing exercises and star into the middle of a hypnowheel. Then, a few times throughout the movie, the hypnowheel appears on the screen. The gimmick here was that when the movie was shown theatrically in this cut, hired ‘maniacs’ would run around the theater and spook the audience. This version is included here as well, which is a really nice touch.
Disc Four - Rat Pfink A Boo Boo / The Lemon Grove Kids:
Steckler's 1966 film, Rat Pfink A Boo Boo (or Rat Pfink And Boo Boo, depending on if you want to go by the title cart or the trailer) was written by Steckler and the film's leading man, Ron Haydock, a frequent Steckler collaborator.
The film opens with a scene in which a lady of the evening (Mary Jo Curtis) walks the street only to get attacked pretty harshly by a trio of bad dudes - clearly, crime is out of control and something needs to be done. These same bad dudes then randomly select a woman named Cee Bee Beaumont (Carolyn Brandt, of course) and call her up and harass her over the phone. From here, they stalk her for a bit and then finally kidnap her.
Cee Bee's boyfriend, Lonnie Lord (played by Haydock, credited as Vin Saxon), is a hip musician who plays his new single, ‘You Is A Rat Pfink’ at a swinging pool party to a pretty impressed crowd. Eventually, Lonnie realizes what's happened to his one true love and he recruits his best pal, Twimbly (Titus Moede), who just so happens to be Cee Bee's gardener, to help him set things right. To do this, well over half way into the movie they eventually head into a closet and change into their superheroic alter egos, Rat Pfink and Boo Boo! Now clad in costumes that look like they were made out of donated clothes the local thrift store rejected, they give chase to the bad guys in hopes of saving Cee Bee from certain doom and, before it's all over, drive around in a motorcycle with a sidecar, fight and escaped gorilla dubbed ‘Kogar The Swinging Ape’ (Bob Burns) and wind up in a parade all while various musical numbers are scattered throughout the movie, bringing things to a close with, of course, a beach party.
Meant to cash in on the success of the Batman TV show starring Adam West, this film definitely has an 'everything and the kitchen sink' mentality to it. Reusing footage originally shot for a crime movie that he never quite finished, the film can’t figure out if it wants to be the hard hitting crime movie it starts off as, the swinging’ shindig rock n roll movie that it then turns into, the superhero movie its advertised as, the killer ape movie that it later morphs into or the beach party movie it finishes as – and that’s okay, because it’s a lot of fun, so long as you know what you’re getting into. This probably isn’t the best Steckler movie to start with, it’s way too disjointed what with its odd tinting used in the black and white photography and the odd dubbing that gives everything a slightly ethereal feel, but Steckler and his cast of regulars do seem to be having a lot of making the movie.
The fight scenes are clearly not really choreographed and have a very spontaneous feel to them. They’ve never impressive, but they are just manic enough to hold our attention. Carolyn Brandt looks pretty foxy here and Haydock and Moede, while unlikely heroes, are somehow kind of charming running around in their Underoos. Throw in a guy in an ape costume and a seriously cool soundtrack with some great surf guitar playing on it, and it’s hard not to have a good time with this one, as legitimately awful as it is on pretty much every level.
Following that trend, the same year Steckler harnessed his love of hokey Bowery Boys styled comedy into The Lemon Grove Kids Meet The Monsters, a collection of three 16mm color short films tacked onto each other which somehow managed play theatrically back in the sixties.
Steckler, as Cash Flagg of course, plays Gopher and his pal Slug (Mike Cannon) get into a race with some of the other guys in the neighborhood and then run into a mummy (Bob Burns) in the first story, The Lemon Grove Kids (the only one of the three segments Steckler directed). Look for a cameo from none other than Rat Pfink and Boo Boo in this chapter as well. The second story is The Lemon Grove Kids Meet The Green Grasshopper And The Vampire Lady From Outer Space and, well, the title kind of tells you everything that you need to know about that one, as Gopher and his pals try to stop The Vampire Lady From Outer Space from kidnapping their neighbors and putting them under her deadly spell. Last but not least, in The Lemon Grove Kids Go Hollywood Gopher, sans Slug, teams up with Ray Hadock and his mean guitar as well as a few kids to stop a gang of bad guys from kidnapping an actress.
Complete with some awesome opening and closing credits and a pretty rad soundtrack, The Lemon Grove Kids movies are nuttier than a fruitcake. Set at a manic pace and featuring pretty much non-stop gags and action, the movies made have been made for peanuts but Steckler, along with the friend and family members he made the movie with, are obviously having a complete blast hamming it up. Shot in and around Steckler’s house for peanuts, the movie gets by on goofy sight gags aplenty and ridiculous amount of energy and enthusiasm. Sure, it’s all hokey as hokey can be but that was never meant to be up for debate, this is really just Steckler and company making a movie that looked like an awful lot of fun to be making.
The Incredibly Strange Films Of Ray Dennis Steckler Part Two – Blu-ray Review:
The Thrill Killers is presented in AVC encoded 1080p and framed at 1.85.1. 4K from its 35mm fine grain master using up 19.4GBs of space on the disc. The black and white image looks pretty strong, though there are some vertical scratches that couldn’t quite be completely eliminated during the restoration visible from time to time. Otherwise, the image looks nice and clean, showing strong detail throughout. There’s good depth and texture and plenty of natural film grain as well, with no obvious digital manipulation or compression artifacts on display.
The sequences in the alternate version that were exclusive to the ‘The Maniacs Are Loose!’ version of the movie were scanned from a 35mm release print with restoration and color correction by Warren Chan. They don’t look as sharp as the material taken from the fine grain master but despite more obvious print damage and a bit of color fading, they’re quite watchable. When you watch this version of the movie, the parts of it that were not added later use the same 4k restoration and look just as good as the feature version.
Rat Pfink A Boo Boo was scanned and restored from its 35mm dupe negative. Restoration and color correction by Warren Chan. Presented in AVC encoded 1080 high definition and framed at 1.85.1, grain is thick throughout the black and white presentation but detail advances quite nicely over the older DVD release and there’s considerably more depth to appreciate as well. Contrast looks solid and while there’s some occasional moments where you’ll note some small white specks and what not, overall, the image is pretty clean.
The Lemon Grove Kids is framed at 1.33.1 in AVC encoded 1080p high definition. Segments one and two of the feature were scanned and restored in 4K from their 35mm blow-up internegatives. According to the booklet, however, “due to severe fade in the internegative for segment two, the ability to color correct it was severely limited.” The third segment was scanned and restored in 2K from its original 16mm camera reversal AB roll. The restoration was by Luciana Bellott and the color correction by Lannie Lorence.
The Thrill Killers (and The Maniacs Are Loose!) gets a 24-bit DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track (not 2.0 as the menu notes) that sounds pretty decent. There isn’t a lot of surround activity here, it sounds a fair bit like a mono mix, but there’s maybe a bit of separation with the effects and score. Levels are balanced well and the track is clean, clear and free of any obvious hiss or distortion. Optional subtitles are provided for both versions of the movie in English.
Rat Pfink A Boo Boo and The Lemon Grove kids each get a 24-bit DTS-HD 2.0 Mono track with optional English subtitles. Audio quality here is pretty decent, considering the production history and source material. There are definitely some audible defects noticeable now and again but despite a bit of hiss in a few spots and the occasional bit of sibilance, the tracks are, overall, quite clean even if the range is understandably limited. The music sounds pretty solid here, especially in Rat Pfink!
Disc Three – The Thrill Killers
Extras kick off with an archival audio commentary with Ray Dennis Steckler, who speaks about following up The Incredibly Strange Creatures... (look for a poster on the wall in the diner), talks about the Hollywood locations used for the movie, how he got Liz Renay for the movie and what he and Bardo were to work with, how a little old lady messed up the phone booth scene, using his own car in the movie, using his own daughter as one of the kids Cash Flagg scares in the film, what it was like shooting much of the movie up in the mountains, his relationship with George Campbell, who did the credits for the movie, his thoughts on the different performers he worked with, what was shot on a sound stage and why, the importance of the cinematography to the film's effective moments, which actors he wouldn't bother giving lines to and why he'd let some of them just do their own thing, how lucky he was to have the cast he had for the picture and quite a bit more.
Up next is an audio commentary with Christopher Wayne Curry, the author Of The Incredibly Strange Features Of Ray Dennis Steckler. Curry offers up a lot of biographical details about pretty much each and every one on the cast members that pop up in the picture, who Joe Bardo went on to become a director of adult films in the seventies, Steckler's tendency to 'chase his own tail trying to figure out which story he told' when it comes to the truth behind his work, details on Gary Kent's career with and without Steckler behind the camera, the infamy of the severed head scene, where it's obvious that Steckler is trying to get certain scenes in one take, what sets Steckler apart from contemporaries like Ted V. Mikels and H.G. Lewis, the film's re-release as The Maniacs Are Loose! and the marketing that went into that involving rubber masks made up to look like Mad Dog and the use of the hypnowheel and other details of the production.
Confessions Of A Thrill Killer is a new interview with actor Gary Kent where he speaks for ten minutes about how he came to work with Steckler in the first place, what he was like as a director, having to work without a script, Steckler’s ability to talk people into working for him for now money, what they catering was like on set and a fair bit more. It’s a really fun look back at Kent’s experiences on the film and his thoughts on the time he spent with Steckler before his passing.
An archival interview with Steckler runs for eleven minutes and lets the director talk about the people that he worked with on the movie, where some of the ideas for the film came from, doing the location scouting for the film, the influence of movies like Psycho on the movie and how he still feels pretty uncomfortable with some of the violence in the movie, such as the severed head scene in the old house.
The Q&A At The York Theatre, San Francisco is a twenty-nine minute archival featurette that documents a screening that took place with Steckler in attendance. After the film played, he speaks to the crowd for a bit and then takes questions from audience members about what happened to different cast members, some of the locations that he used in his movies, plans for future films, where he came up with different characters and quite a bit more.
Also included here is fourteen minutes of silent Behind The Scenes Footage that includes commentary from Steckler. As the footage plays out, Steckler talks about what it was like on the set, what we're seeing on the screen, working with the cast and crew, locations and more. The footage isn't in great shape but it's neat to see as we get to see the cast relaxing but we also get to see the cast and crew working hard, doing some of the stunt work and lots more.
Finishing up the extras on this disc are a trailer for The Thrill Killers, a trailer and a TV spot for The Manias Are Loose!, a few radio spots, menus and chapter selection options.
Disc Four - Rat Pfink A Boo Boo / The Lemon Grove Kids:
Extras for Rat Pfink A Boo Boo include another archival audio commentary with Steckler that starts off by talking about the locations used in the opening scenes, his hatred of smoking, the different cast members that he worked with on the picture, what Mary Jo Curtis has done since the movie was made, why the title card reads 'Rat Fink A Boo Boo' which he claims was the original title no matter what you may have heard (not sure I buy that), again working with his wife Carolyn Brandt, the film's typically rushed production schedule, the camera work in the movie, background details such as the painting on the wall in the scene where Brandt is terrorized, memories of shooting specific scenes, doing the right scenes with no stunt men, shooting near a Boy Scout ranch up in the hills of California, how the parade scene came to be and more.
The disc also includes a new commentary with Aaron AuBuchon, Webster University Professor Of Film Studies. He offers up plenty of biographical information about the cast and crew that worked on the picture, the audacity of some of Steckler's claims on his commentary tracks and interviews, specific shots that really work in the movie, the lighting and cinematography in key scenes, the use of music in the film, why the film is called Rat Pfink A Boo Boo instead of Rat Pfink A Boo Boo and how Steckler's stories about the title have contradicted themselves over the years, how learning about the making of a movie can enrich the experience of watching it, what you can learn about filmmaking from this movie, the use of very frenetic camera work during the chase and action scenes, Steckler's common overuse of 'walking around' scenes to pad his films, the crazy plot twists that happen in the movie and why Steckler threw them into the movie, influences that worked their way into this and other Steckler films and loads more. This track is pretty great, the right mix of critical analysis and trivia delivered at a nice pace.
First Lady Of Cult is a new interview with actress Carolyn Brandt running twenty-six minutes. She shows off some interesting memorabilia from her career and why she used the stage name Carolyn Brandt, growing up in San Francisco, her education and training and how she got her start in show business doing live theater, how she met Ray Dennis Steckler and when they started dating and then got married, working with some of the Steckler regulars and how Steckler came to act in a bunch of his own movies, how they got very lucky by being able to work with a lot of talented people over the years, shooting at a lot of the same locations, specific memories of shooting Rat Pfink A Boo Boo, how a lot of the work together they did to get a paycheck, Steckler's work for Andy Sidaris on Wide World Of Sports and how she felt about moving to Las Vegas just as her own career was starting to really take off. She then talks about the other directions that Steckler tried, usually without much success, why they eventually got divorced but still worked together, getting back into dancing in Las Vegas and what she's done since then. Watch it all the way to the end, Brandt’s still got it!
Mondo Psychotronic is an interview with Mondo Movies Label and Psychotronic Video Store owner Bal Croce and friends that clocks in at thirty-three minutes. He talks about his experiences releasing various cult and exploitation movies, including various Steckler films. He talks about his how he got into cult films, his experiences at The Scala Cinema, opening up the Psychotronic Video Store and then starting the video label. There's lots of talk here about things that happened at the shop, different customers that they dealt with, his part in The Incredibly Strange Film Show and getting connected to Steckler through that connection, what it was like working with Steckler, memories of different screenings that they hosted, memories of some of the other London cult film impresarios that were operating around the same time, why he left the shop and moved on and the legacy that it leaves behind.
Monster Mags, B-Movies & Rock ‘n’ Roll is a new nineteen minute interview with filmmaker Don Glut on Ron Haydock and Ray Dennis Steckler. He shows off a T-Rex skull and some of the random props and artifacts that he has in his house, how he met Haydock through Famous Monsters Of Filmland Magazine, his own work making amateur movies, how he and Haydock hit it off and became great friends and what he did aside from showing up in Rat Pfink A Boo Boo, getting into fandom himself and how he came to meet Steckler. He then talks about how he and Steckler came to be friends, Ron's tragic passing, his thoughts on Steckler's move to Las Vegas, memories of hanging out with Steckler a few times before his passing and how Steckler was an inspiration in regards to his own low budget movies.
Finishing up the extras are two minutes of footage from the original opening, four minutes of color footage of Rat Pfink And Boo Boo hanging out with some kids and rocking out with a gorilla at a go-go party, the film's original theatrical trailer (which uses the title 'Rat Pfink And Boo Boo' not 'Rat Pfink A Boo Boo'), menus and chapter selection options.
As to the extras for The Lemon Grove Kids, we get a commentary with Steckler where he talks about the artwork used in the opening credits, who did the screenplay and created the characters, who directed what parts and what parts he specifically directed, using his own lawnmower in the opening scenes, working with the different cast members in the film, the obvious influence of The Bowery Boys on the movie, different locations used for the movie, using his own house to shoot parts of the film, putting producer George Morgan in the movie, putting the mummy (played by Bob Burns) into the movie and how audiences reacted to it, using Carolyn Brandt in this movie as well and other memories from making the movie.
An archival interview with Steckler runs twenty-two minutes. He waxes nostalgic about his love of the Bowery Boys movies and how huge they were when he was a kid, how the idea came to be to make his own version of their shtick, shooting on short ends and 16mm, coming up with the money to make the movie, how much fun it was to make the movie and how people have reacted to it over the years, locations that were used and a run in he had with the police.
Tickles Talks interviews Laura Steckler, the director's daughter, for ten minutes. She talks about what it was like basically growing up on a movie set, how much she loved working with her dad as a kid, getting a job as an Ivory Snow baby at six months old, making her movie debut in Lemon Grove Kids and her thoughts on playing the character of Tickles, going on to appear in Body Fever and Blood Shack, moving to Vegas when she was a young kid, different phases that her dad went through as she grew up and how fun it was even if it was an odd childhood, doing makeup on The Hollywood Strangler Meets the Skid Row Slasher, getting occasional celebrity treatment when people realized who her father was and how exciting it is to know that there are people out there who love his work.
Also included is a quick sixteen minute Text Card For Live Show piece that hypes up the monsters, twenty-four minutes of silent footage from an unreleased fourth segment (most of which looks just as wacky as the footage that did get used), and ten minutes of really fun parade footage, also presented without sound.
The disc also includes the eight minute short film from 1964, Good On The Loose, available with commentary from Steckler that talks about the different cast members who he worked with, who did what behind the scenes, shooting in the San Fernando Valley, how this was the first film that he did with Carolyn Brandt, different references that are worked into the movie and a bit more. It's a goofy short film about a drunk and his wacky pal just sort of getting into trouble, but it does have a fun Frankenstein character in it.
A trailer for the feature, menus and chapter selection options finish up this disc.
The Incredibly Strange Films Of Ray Dennis Steckler Part Two - The Final Word:
Discs three and four of Severin Film’s The Incredibly Strange Films Of Ray Dennis Steckler Blu-ray collection contain a whole lot of crazy, cool hijinks. The Thrill Killers holds up quite well while Rat Pfink A Boo Boo and The Lemon Grove Kids are just bonkers, low budget sixties oddities. The presentations are really strong here and the discs are packed with extra features done right..
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